Power grid should be stable until midday: Eskom

Following week-long Stage 3 load shedding last week that continued into the weekend, Eskom has said it is not anticipating any load shedding on Monday morning.

Spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told eNCA that the power utility over the weekend worked on having ‘a better start’ to this week.

"We do have some of our generators back online which has helped us stabilise the system. We'll be able to go through the day until about midday. We are looking relatively better than we did last week," said Phasiwe.

He said that there's more of a strain on the power grid during the evenings.

"At this stage we are seeing an increase in electricity demand, as a result the power system is already constrained which gives us the indication of the risk of load shedding not only on Monday but for the rest of the week.

"In addition to the constrained power system, we are also going to remove for maintenance one of our biggest generators at the Koeberg Power Station, it will be out for three months," Phasiwe told the SABC.

Meanwhile, man loses life to blackouts

According to the Beeld newspaper, a Bloemfontein man, connected to two oxygen machines, died after Eskom implemented rolling blackouts twice in one day.

The paper said that William Engelbrecht, 61, died within 30 minutes after the power was cut for the second time on Thursday at his home in Navalsig. His family believe he had not recovered from the first power cut when he died during the second one.

Engelbrecht was permanently connected to two oxygen machines because one was not strong enough. The family's generator was switched on but it was not strong enough to keep two oxygen machines going.

Eskom said it was investigating the incident and would comment sometime this week.

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